Men of 18 and 19 (1942), the Army's choose-your-branch poster

Men of 18 and 19, now you can choose your branch of service is a 1942 U.S. Army recruiting poster. A low-angle photograph of a helmeted young soldier sits beside a list of Army branches and an instruction to apply at the nearest recruiting and induction station (NAID 514999).

What the sheet prints

A young soldier in a helmet is photographed from below, looking up and away. A black brushstroke banner carries the age line. To the side, on what looks like a torn sheet of paper, is a menu of Army branches. The bottom line tells the reader where to go.

MEN of 18 and 19

NOW you can choose your branch of service

CORPS of ENGINEERS · MEDICAL DEPARTMENT · QUARTERMASTER CORPS · ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT · INFANTRY ★ FIELD ARTILLERY · ARMORED FORCE ★ CAVALRY · SIGNAL CORPS ★ AIR FORCES · CORPS of MILITARY POLICE · CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE · COAST ARTILLERY CORPS (Antiaircraft ★ Harbor Defense)

APPLY AT THE NEAREST U.S. ARMY RECRUITING and INDUCTION STATION

Who issued it

The U.S. Army issued the poster. A printer's code runs along the foot; the FRAME record transcribes it without decoding it. The National Archives holds the sheet in Record Group 44. The archive also holds two close relatives from 1942, a "Radiogram" version and a "Now is the time!" version, with the same list of branches.

How to read it

The key word is "now." The sheet offers young men a choice, which implies that a choice had not been available, or soon would not be. The poster does not explain why. It names no law, no draft age, and no deadline. The only hint is in the last line, which sends volunteers to a "recruiting and induction station," a name that covers both men who chose to enlist and men who were called. The poster leaves the reader to work out what the difference meant for him.

That is the honest strength of the sheet. It treats the reader as someone making a decision. The list is long and concrete, and it includes medical, engineering and supply branches as well as combat arms.

It also leaves things out. There is no term of service, no pay, and no word on which branches were full. The upward-gazing soldier sells the decision before the list is read. The FRAME record calls the list card-stacking, and the omissions are the reason.

See Become a Nurse for a civilian recruiting sheet of the same year, and I Want You for the Army's best-known earlier appeal. The Office of War Information index lists other 1942 posters. For the Army's place in the wider war government, read the essay on the Roosevelt administration.